Glassgreen Hire launches EV fleet scheme
10 October 2022
Glassgreen Hire, a plant and transport subsidiary of the Scottish housebuilder, Springfield Group, has successfully launched a new purely-EV car scheme with support from Lloyds Bank’s fleet business, Lex Autolease.
The EV offering was rolled out to the group’s 235 eligible employees in September 2021 and has seen strong levels of take up, with 135 orders placed, and more than half already delivered.
Popular models among employees include the Mercedes EQA and EQC, BMW iX3, Volkswagen ID.3 and Peugeot e-208.
Moving towards an EV fleet will allow the Springfield Group to cut emissions by an estimated 5.2 tonnes of CO2 for every vehicle replaced. It will also enable the business, which previously only offered car allowances, to reduce costs across its fleet.
To encourage uptake and support charging across Scotland, the group has installed banks of vehicle charge points at its offices in Elgin and Larbert, near Falkirk, and at the Dawn Homes office in Glasgow, with further points planned for its Tulloch Homes office in Inverness.
It is also investing in temporary mobile charging points, which are available to employees at major construction sites.
The move forms part of the housebuilder’s long-term plans to reduce the emissions of its entire fleet to zero, under which it is already running a fully electric van with two further nine-seater EVs on order.
The Springfield Group also provided employees with guidance on accessing the government’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which has now been replaced by the EV ChargePoint grant, to help fund the installation of a charger at their home.
Innes Smith, chief executive for the Springfield Group, said: “We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint, which means looking carefully at everything from the way we build our homes to the makeup of our fleet, to identify where we can operate more sustainably.
“With developments across Scotland, our employees are regularly travelling to our sites, so making the switch to electric company cars is a great step towards reducing our carbon emissions.”
